The Canadiens held an optional practice Monday
at noon in Brossard, with only the players who didn’t play on Sunday (or barely played) in
Pittsburgh taking to the ice. Other players worked out in the gym or on
stationary bikes.

Still no word on the nature or severity of
Andrei Markov’s injury. The star defenceman is still undergoing tests,
and his uncertain status precludes an emergency call-up.

Penguins’ hit man Matt Cookie is saying his foot was nearly cut by P.K. Subban’s skate in Game 2 and links the incident to Jordan Staal’s cut in Game 1.

• • •

“It’s the second time (it’s happened),” Cooke told the Beaver County Times. “I know it’s not a penalty when skates collide but for that to happen in back-to-back games by the same guy is suspicious.”

• • •

As expected, no supplemental disciplinary action on Craig Adams for the late-game hit on Marc-André Bergeron.

Cole makes error after painful error. He is most definitely daft. Other great broadcasters, like he himself once was (reference the dying seconds of the 1993 Cup final) knew when it was time to quit. Their employers knew when it was time to suggest that they move on to other things. For some reason, it just ain’t happening with this guy.

As for grey hairs, I’ve got a few of those myself. Not many, but every time I look it seems there’s a few more.

President’s Trophy teams have been rather unsuccessful sicne the lockout, there’s regular season success, than there’s postseason success. Three teams were eliminated in the quarter finals and only the 08 Red Wings have a Stanley Cup ring to go with their trophy.

Still amazed we knocked Washington off, but the President’s Trophy is becoming more of a bad omen than having Hossa on your team.

Even if we exit now, we’re selecting in the final eight spots unless PG trades up in the 2010 draft, provided no movement in the order, there isn’t much left really, most of the Ds look to be going in the first 20 picks.

Pensblog is written by some outright fanboys who could give Loafs fans a run for their money on ignorance.

I normally don’t remember particular blogs when I link off of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy for their daily headline links, but when they linked to this I seriously lost a ton of respect for those guys and laughed this blog off when they referenced Montreal fans as the “Eurotrash” fans.

How can the Penguins stand having Cooke in their dressing room? Now I guess you could add “comic relief” as a reason.

And this is the guy the CBC chose to “mike” yesterday, and heap praise upon at every opportunity. Real role model and inspiration for us to listen to. And now a bonafide, on the record dumba$$ as well.

His comment on PK is ridiculous — PK has been playing the game of hockey for years and years, and if he was intentionally hurting players (as he implies) or being reckless with his skates or causing a disproportionate number of injuries, it would have come up by now.

I also resent his implication that PK is capabe of wrong. (Kidding, I know PK is young and will make his fair share of mistakes as does any rookie).

Either this is written by a 12 year old or there are some idiot fans running this blog, or both. Subban with an intent to injure Cooke AND Staal?! Gimme a break! He’s a tough kid who’s out to play hard and finish his checks. I can assure you if the same thing happened to a Canadien, regardless of what Penguin did it, no accusations would be made.

Matt Cooke is a sore loser who’s trying to drum up a controversy where there isn’t one. Wait, this sounds familiar…except it was last week from an enigmatic Russian and a thirsty, shaky-handed goalie!

And Cooke’s hits aren’t suspicious? Most of Cooke’s hits are borderline/late/dirty etc. And usually result in injury to his opponent and/or suspension for Cooke. What a little puke throwing that rant out there to the media. I hope three times a charm tomorrow night from PK!

Any word on Campbell coming down on Adams? Going out on a limb here and going to say nothing will come of it!

Is Matt Cooke serious??? I would love to see someone end this guys career with the most vicious dirty hit ever. What a useless P.O.S!! He’s the reason why Vinny is no longer a great player, and might never again be the player he was. I wish Kane would’ve knocked him out for good!!

I can just see all the Pee Wee hockey players in Canada breaking their sticks on the oppositions post/crossbar, and mouthing off all game to the ref like whiny babies. What a pathetic example of sportsmanship. Crosby should be fined by the league.

Now Cooke mouthing off like a total hypocrit.

Not having any problem getting a hate on for these Penguins. Appears we are in their kitchen.

I don’t usually bite on something so stupid as this and I’m a little ashamed to admit how I feel but…. It is a farce that a guy like Cooke has his name on the same trophy as a guy like Beliveau. If I was a guy the size of oooohh say Ryan OB and I had a full head of steam and I was headed for Cooke and Cooke showed me his numbers? They’d be picking glass and pieces of wood out of his brain stem for years. POS

They don’t even have to steal other scouting staffs per see, they just have to SPEND to make ours bigger like it should be. We’re going to miss out on things when other big-time teams have 5-8 more scouts than we do and can simply see more players more often than our scouts do. Hire more scouts already and invest in some Quebec hockey programs as well, fans want some Quebecois stars, let’s help develop them.

Halak has been great, fantastic, superb, and so many other wonderful adjectives as well.

I don’t get how the media, and many supposed habs fans make it out to be a one man gang.

His effort is necessary we would not be here without him, but nearly sufficient. Unless I missed something Halak did not score any of our three goals, and he had no part in holding the best player in the world to one shot on goal. Actually I lied a little, because I understand how Toronto based media will always try to undercut the Canadiens. They do so by saying it’s just the fluke of riding a hot goaltender. This makes their success in a way empty and undeserved. Why in the world so many “fans’ on here would say the same perplexes me.

For goodness sake, Cammalleri is leading the playoffs in goals and third in points. Gomez, Gionta, Plekanek, and Subban (8,7,8,3) are all registering close to a point a game. We won this last game without one of top ten defencemen on the planet. Dominic Moore, Lapierre, Moen, and Pyatt are giving us incredibly gritty tough play. Our scorers are scoring. Our defensemen have been blocking shots, controlling the front of the net, clearing rebounds … They are giving us everything everybody wanted all season, and yet many still look for negativity.

Do not get me wrong Halak is awesome, but don’t be foolish enough to buy into or spread this crap that he is doing it alone. Goaltenders get way too much praise for wins, and way too much blame for losses. We are playing the Stanley Cup Champions, and just beat the President’s Trophy winners with not only the top 2 players in the world, but many complementary players that are also amongst the best in the world. They will get shots for sure on anybody they play, but Montreal is controlling who and how they are getting shots.

For goodness sake people cheer for your team’s success without these dumb caveats.

When you draft players, you draft them in a specific order according to their rank. Laugh all you want, but it’s like a hockey pool. If the Datsyuk’s, Zetterberg’s, etc… were all superstars when they got drafted, why didn’t they get picked in the 1st round? Well, it’s because sometimes you find those hidden gems, and it’s called luck. The same happened with us and Halak. It’s pure luck…

Develloping them is great, but the full credit once again should not go to the organization. What happens with Detroit’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd round picks every year? If they can develop 9th round picks into superstars, why cant they do this with their early rounders?….

It’s just luck. Every team has some guys like that. But, what most people don’t understand is how hard it is to fit in and develop with a team. You really do have to be in the right place at the right time.

Looks like Cooke is trying to instigate something. The Habs have to be smart though. PK cannot be the one to settle this by himself, he is too valuable to the D corps right now with Markov out. Someone like Moen or Darche or even OB needs to be the one to go and smack Cooke around, but we cannot be trading PK for Cooke for 5 minutes or more. If Cooke tries that the Habs should answer back by going after Crosby.

Surprised you lost faith in Pouliot so soon Ian. He sacrificed his body to make some good body checks in the Caps series and is playing well defensively, despite the occasional brain cramp (blind back passes are always a no-no in my books). They gotta get him firing on more cylinders though, but with JM D comes first.

I agree luck plays a part but if great scouting was not worthwhile no team would bother spending money on it. It is not luck when certain teams pick hidden jewels at a greater rate than the rest of the pack.

MTL has 14 amateur and 2 pro scouts, NJ has 17 amateur scouts and 4 Pro scouts I believe, a few other teams employ 4 Pro scouts as well and considering Montreal makes way, way more money than NJ, you think they could upgrade the amateur scouting department a bit since they can’t count on Top 10 picks, they have to more carefully spend every draft pick they have.

While watching yesterday`s highlights on different websites, I always go back to that Game 7 video vs. the Caps. OMG what a feeling!! =) It`s like I don`t wanna wake up from this dream.

Who would`ve thought. This team never stops surprising us, and the haters. No matter what happens, we are still proud of this team, right?! But now that we can see how well this united strong team can play, we want them to go all the way, of course. I`m just glad that everyone else is realizing the potential this team has, and the love we got for them.

Let`s just enjoy this moment, and I gotta say, it`s great to share this with my HIO fam!

I think his goals scored with Gomez/Gionta earlier this year showed he can play with the big boys and his skating is way, way better than Guimauve’s ever was with Montreal, I think he can keep up with the top lines and honestly, how many guys could possibly skate on line with Gomez and Gionta? Mason Raymond? Vancouver isn’t giving him up and Cogliano’s in EDM has stone hands.

In 2005 I was invited to 2 training camps in the Q and never went. It had begun becoming a bush league, and it hasn’t changed. They way their stars are built is rediculous. They all have a tough time making the NHL because the Q is a fancy league. It’s not there to develop players, it’s become a business just like the NHL. Teams need to win to sell tichets and make money, instead of developping futures….

That’s why so many players get drated from there, but few succeed. It’s not an overly physical league. Guys rack up a ton of points, so the scouts are attracted. Look at Derrek Brassard. He raped the Q, and now he’s getting raped in the NHL. There are alot of examples like him..

I have not lost faith in him. But he is a very good 3rd liner right now. We need to find a player that can play as quick as our top 6. Pouliot could play with Metro and Moen on the 3rd next year. That would work for me.

Cooke is a mess. No one cuts someones foot on purpose with their skate, that is just idiotic and especially being suspicious of P.K, ridiculous. After Cooke’s hit on Savard, we know he’s just a Goon at best.

yeah i know, but Lecavalier and Richards and the like wasnt too long ago (10 years i guess) and that was a good time with Gagne and them, but since the millenium turned its gone downhill, like you said, maybe they put too much emphasis on owning the Q rather than being better on the ice in all facets of the game. The skill level and bump and grind needs to be elevated a bit, i dont know how, but its sad

That is just sad. Geoff Molson has to stick with the cap when it comes to players but there is NO reason he should not be at the top in spending on coaches, trainers, scouts etc. Very disappointing to hear this.

But picking a hidden jewel comes with no risk. If you fail, you didn’t waste a top pick. And picking them at a higher rate is still luck. I’m sure all the Wings players had certain attractive qualities when they were picked, but did you think a Zetterberg at 5 foot 7 could dominate a game like he does? Nope, but they took a chance and won. Most teams don’t do that, but Detroit can. They can waste late round picks every year, because there is no pressure to rebuild through the draft due to their 20 year success. They don’t have to fill 5-6 roster spots every year with their picks. They can gamble, but teams rebuilding often have to fill certain spots.

So, when the Islanders need a shutdown defenseman, they will draft for that need in the late round if they havent picked one yet. Detroit doesn’t need any of that, because they’re already great. So they can pick a centerman, even though they’re already deep at that position. If that players fails, wtv they didn’t need him. If he succeeds, they can trade Fedorov and bring in Datsyuk…

Options are limited considering the Kostitsyn’s trade value right now. I doubt just trading for a top 6 forward that’s young will be available without extra concessions but we do need something. Alex Avtsin might show up on the Bulldogs next season, but I’m sure Leblanc and Kristo are at least 1 year away from signing any pro contracts with the team. I think if Price is moved this summer, I would say deal him to Chicago if they can get Kyle Beach in the package, 6’3″ Power forward LW with 52G in the WHL this year.

See what changes happen in the offseason, mid-season it’s like fishing for a GM or a coach, everyone worth having is already signed with another organization or has commitments so there’s not a lot of room to get things done or have a lot of open talks.

But I hope to see an expansion of the Player Development unit this summer.

I agree….someone like Moen or O’Byrne needs to knock the crap out of Cooke…P.K. is too valuable to the team now, but we shouldn’t go after Crosby, the league would likely forfeit the series to Pittsburgh if we messed withe little Sidney.

I think maybe Gainey needs to take AK for a walk along the Rideaux Canal, some rain would help and just try to get this guy going, or is it PG job now?? Maybe JM? Man we could use his size and skill right now! Maybe they could offer him an English tutor?

Yes Cooke. You figured it out. Subban has figured out how to slash the top of other players’ skates without making it look intentional. In fact, he has retractable sharper blades that are hidden in his boot – just like those sneakers with wheels that are all the rage with 12 year olds.

This is the longest drought the Habs have ever experienced in their illustrious history. These aren’t your father’s Montreal Canadiens
– the juggernaut that rolled to the Stanley Cup Final on an annual
basis, making their fans more annoying than Gilbert Gottfried.

These Habs have an underdog quality to them, making them a lot more acceptable to the average Canadian hockey fan.

I hate the Sharks but I love the way they draft and develop players. Pavalski (sp.?) was a SEVENTH round pick and Clowe a fourth rounder, even Setaguchi was not a top five pick. Like Detroit they seem to be able to find great players in the later rounds. If the Habs hope to improve without a top pick then they need to draft everyday players in the late rounds. Maybe Geoff Molson can buy the entire scouting staff from the Sharks.

It appears the season is not quite over for some of the biggest stars of the Washington Capitals.

According to the Washington Post, Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Semyon Varlamov
are expected to represent Russia at the upcoming World Hockey
Championship in Germany. The tournament gets under way on May 7 with
Russia’s first game on May 9 against Slovakia.

After riding his exercise bike for 8 minutes and 7 seconds, Sidney proceeds to the kitchen. He drinks a Gatorade, puts on his Penguins pijama’s, and calls for his step father. Mario walks him to his room, tucks him in, and they begin having their usual concersation…

-“So Sid, what did you think of yesterday’s game?”, says Mario.

-“Well dad, I was mad. I really was. Frustration got the best of me and I broke my stick. I’m going to try and sleep, but it’s going to be hard. I dissapointed alot of my TimBits friends.”, said Sid.

-“Son, the game of hockey can be like that. In your case, you are unique in that the league loves you. So you can do whatever you want, and nothing will happen. So don’t worry about your stick, well get you a new one and your TimBits friends will still love you.”, replied Lemieux.

-“Thanks boss, I always know I can count on you. Even when people make fun of my red lips, you always cheer me up.”, says Sid.

-“Well, were just here for you kid. We want you to succeed, that’s why you’ve been living with us and not Evgeni or Jordan. You are the chosen one, but pretty soon it will be time for you to make certain choices. Like what car to buy, how many powerplays you want per game, and maybe even…….(says while faking a cough)…..which house to buy.”, Mario replies.

-“Mario, I just want to live with you and your family. I feel like I’m back home in Nova Scotia here, and the Mellon arena is my backyard rink. I can’t ever see myself living alone, I would probably cry like I do when I talk to Mr. Bettman on the telephone.”, said Crosby while fighting tears.

-“Alright son, we can talk in the future about that. What’s important now is that you get a good night’s rest, and prepare yourself for Tuesday’s game. I just spoke to Gary, and were going to get 7 powerplays and the Habs only 2, so we have to take advantage of that.”, whispers Mario.

-“Thanks Super Mario, I’ll try sleep for 8 hours and 7 minutes now. And I’m going to dream about how to cope with all the booing the Montrealers will do to me on Tuesday. I hope it won’t be too much, I really liked that team and don’t want the fans to hurt my feelings.”, says Sid.

Lemieux rolls his eyes, quickly shuts off the lights and closes the door. “I’ll wake you up at 8:07″…..

There’s nothing fishy. Spacek was diagnosed with Labyrinthitis, a viral infection of the inner ear. It can take 1-6 weeks to heal, but symptoms can still remain for months if the infection does damage. I wouldn’t be thinking about Spacek any time soon, because he currently has vertigo, nausea and no balance. Tough to play hockey with that.

Anyone remember that game where ovechkin scored a hat trick and crosby was complaining to the refs about too many hats being thrown on the ice. In the interview after the game he said he wanted an announcment to stop thowing hats. HAHA I think thats all the proof anyone needs about his whining!

As for Cooke…no comment I think we are all on the same page and know who the true dirty players are.

I had that exact thing two years ago. It is just awful, cold sweats, vertigo with appetite but no capacity to eat. I lost like 15 pounds and was bedridden for two weeks and not right for another month. Vertigo would come on suddenly with a quick head movement or even bending down to put on my shoes.

I doubt Spacek will be back unless the Habs stay in for a long run. I would not wish it on my worst enemy. Try lying on the bathroom floor with the whole world spinning.

Yesterday he broke the stick over a pick that in the regular season would be interference by Dominic Moore. They could easily have called Moore for it, I’m glad they didn’t, but in a game like that I don’t blame him for being frustrated.

It’s not good enough to beat a great opponent based on each team’s
actual merit? I don’t see why a fanbase has to tear down other teams. Now that’s a lack of class.

Ya , you raise a good point, why is it that the gogs are having so much success these last few years..is it that the habs are filled with budding stars of tomorrow..or are they honestly coached to perfection..both Lever and now Boucher…..i would love to know!!!!!!

In the last comment it was pointed out that the NBC rating were up from last year….that said i wondewr where i could review the entire nhl tv ratings..as i believe there is a link between the Habs …I know as stated a few days ago that TSN set all time records with the Habs and Caps….and i believe it wasn,t just the Caps that did it……

Us habs fans are millions strong…we just need to let Bettman know that as well as the Cbc ass_ _ _ _ _

Cooke is an A-Hole and everyone knows it…except of course the CBC…they decide to feature him and mike him up! Because every young hockey fan out there can really learn from what Cooke has to say on the ice…

How is it expected that there is no supplemental suspension against Adams? It is only so because we know the NHL favors the Pens. Look at the hit Adams gives and compare it to what Lapierre did for example. Adams hits his man with a lot more force than Lapierre does. Both plays could have caused serious head or neck injuries but didn’t. Lapierre was clearing the net, Adams was trying to get his man off the puck. But intent is no different for either one and as I said, Adams’s hit is harder than Lapierre’s. Adams is a nobody but I don’t understand how the NHL lets him walk for a dangerous hit like that. And then the next time it happens, the NHL goes off and says he has a clean record, but a record is only clean because the NHL doesn’t have the balls to give a play like that the suspension it deserves. It would really be nice to see the league have one set of rules for everyone or to at least make themselves available and accountable for these decisions.

How could there be no suspension for a hit from behind like that? What did he get? 3 minutes of penalties for doing the EXACT same thing other players have done all season and got several game suspensions? How does this compare to Lapierre’s hit this season that sent him off for a few games. Incredible.

And Cooke complaining about accidental contact as if Subban intends to injure other players? Really? Cooke… who blindsides star players repeatedly is complaining about Subban? This is SURREAL. Someone please knock Crosby out of these series please!

He might be gone for the season alright, but I would not take the word of the biggest headline fiction the CBC has ever had next to clown Cherry. He guesses everything he says, nothing factual. Bob Cole says he is gone, and it might mean he is in the can.

I cannot for the life of me, get over how Cry-baby Crosby did not get a penalty for his temper tantrum. I think I hit replay five times. If my boy was reffing, he woud have called him. Incredible. Sid the Kid. Now I know how he got his name.

Cook is a mess. He’s such an idiot. Says there’s not intent with what he says, then why the heck did you bring it up?

Can’t wait to see what the referrees have up their helmets for the rest of the games…

Indeed, or why there was no penalty when Dominic Moore was hauled down while he had the puck in the Penguins zone on Bergeron’s penalty.

Just the league doing what it can to protect and assist its poster boy and his team.

Crosby should have gotten a misconduct penalty, and the Pittsburgh bench should have been penalized for delay of game for trying to get the officials to go upstairs on Cammi’s first goal, when it was clear to everyone, that his stick was below his shoulders. They’re the biggest whiners and pukes in the league.

There was no letdown in his speed, knew that Bergeron was vulnerable. Hit him squarely in the back. There was 3 minutes on the clock left and the Habs were up 2 goals. That was a dirty hit. Was there no suspension because Bergeron ultimately wasn’t hurt? Is that what it would take? Really? Make the right call and give him a pair of games. This is deplorable.

It’s really funny how alot of people are talking both positively and negatively about Bob Gainey today…

On my way to work, I was listening to the french radio. Yvon Pedneault mentionned something quite interesting about Bob Gainey’s trade with SJ 3 years ago. The deal sent Rivet to SJ for Georges and a 1st round pick, which turned out to be Max Patches. Apparently, BG was pushing for Georges and Pavelski instead of the 1st round pick.

Immagine, the trade has already done wonders for us and Max hasn’t even had an impact on the Habs yet. If Pavelski was here, wow. Good job, Bob.
“These head movies make my eyes rain” -Simple Jack

We saw how quickly the Pens came out and said Stall wasn’t done for the year, after the initial reports. In Marky’s case, I think it is a long term injury, and now they’re just trying to see if there is a quick fix or special procedure they can take in the healing process to speed it up. Kind of like Metro’s injury.

When the Habs staff meet the media, the journalists always ask if there are different healing methods available that could speed up the process. So they’re probably finding out all the answers, and then we will know everything about it…

Gainey hired JM because he is an experienced coach, but he is looking like a real amature running 2.5 forward lines against any team in the NHL let alone the Mighty Penguins. If this continuies it will prove to be a vital mistake for the Habs.

IMO, Captin Kirk is the only coach on this team…I bet he get’s a lot of head coaching offers in the off season. I say we make him head coach and send JM back to the Hobbits.

Can carry either a minor, misconduct, game misconduct or match penalty, depending on the gravity of the infraction

A misconduct is something else. Unless you seriously mean a 10 minute or
game misconduct. (rolls eyes). (If it’s a language issue, no problem, I couldn’t tell you what unsportsmanlike conduct is called in French or Spanish. I just hope you’re not bitching about a rule you’ve never read.)

I don’t think they called it because they didn’t call the interference on Moore going into the play. I think we came out on top there and I’m happy that he used up the goodwill on breaking his stick.

If anyone see’s Matt Cooke in the MTL streets today, please smack him in the face with a rusty frying pan…

What a douchebag. Not to mention he screams like a little girl. Anyone hear him on NBC yesterday after he scored his goal? It sounded like an 8 year-old girl screaming when her tea party is over.

The funniest thing though is that he’s probably the most hated player in the league. All he does is run around and always happens to injure the oppositions best player. But now that he gets a glimpse of what it feels like to be injured, he starts crying…..

But hey, that’s the Pens for you. When all else fails, cry and whine….

Cooke is such a friggin’ idiot, he’s an embarrassment to hockey. Comments like that just reinforce the fact. I hope someone steps on his toes in the locker room and puts him out indefinitely. That right hand from Evander Kane was the 2nd best thing I have seen on TV ever. Kovi’s shoulder to Tucker’s chin 3 years ago is still in first.

…I’m suspicious that Cooke is a cheap headshot artist causing about 3 season ending concussions in his wake. Was that for real? Is his insight regarding his own play that poor?

If anybody’s interested, rewatch the great interview on CBC with Dryden, Roy, and Lafleur just prior to the Centennial game. One of the most fitting quotes that foreshadows these Cinderella Habs was given by cerebral Dryden recognizing the weight of the past on the current roster.

” …now it’s up to them to write the next 100 years story. It’s time now for that second 100 years to begin and it’s up to them to begin it.”

…And what a great start to that story. It’s fitting that Cammy goes off on that game and scores 3 or 4.

Matt Cooke is bitching about a suspicion that P.K. Subban is maybe deliberately causing these skate on skate mishaps. Is it me or does it seem like the Penguins are becoming the diva prima donnas of the NHL? Aside from Mario Lemieux, who is a class act, the rest of the Pens need to take some Pamprin.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ “Put your hand on the record player and say, ‘I’m gonna get my freedom!'” — King’s X